For weeks, the positions of state Sen. John Cronin regarding the redevelopment of Vicksburg Square and the final disposition of Devens have been a matter of speculation, reported secondhand by state and municipal officials who have met with him behind closed doors and colored by his attempt in 2022 to amend Chapter 498 to remove the cap on new housing at Devens.
Last week at the Dec. 6, in-person monthly meeting of the Devens Committee, residents, and other attendees, Cronin left no doubt about where he stands, taking questions from attendees and responding with answers that were straightforward and at times blunt.
Cronin is serving his second term as a state senator, representing the Worcester and Middlesex districts. He was born in Leominster, raised in Lunenberg, and currently lives in Fitchburg. He is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and according to his official biography a former U.S. Army infantry officer and a combat veteran with multiple deployments to Afghanistan.
Lack of housing is ‘No. 1 threat’
In his opening remarks last week, Cronin made clear that his top priority is housing, citing two demographic trends fueled, in his view, by a lack of it: the migration of 26- to 35-year-olds from Massachusetts to other states and the loss of population in small towns west of Devens.
“I know there is going to be a lot of debate about what is the right mix of housing [at Devens], what is the right mix of commercial use moving forward, but I would say that [lack of] housing is the number-one threat to this region, and certainly to the state.”
More than 30,000 young people had left the state in 2022, he claimed, because they either couldn’t afford to start a family here, or because their prospects were better somewhere else.
And North Central Massachusetts is “getting smaller,” he added. If you drive west 10 miles from Devens, “there are communities that are contracting and dying,” he said. If you go west 20 miles, you will find places in “a doom loop,” he said. “So it is really incumbent upon us to be thoughtful and responsible, but also aggressive to fight those demographics. And I think the number-one priority for me in my office is working with stakeholders to produce more housing.”
More than a dozen residents were present, as well as interim Devens Executive Vice President Meg Delorier and members of her staff. Cronin represents the portion of Devens that lies on the historical land of Shirley. The two remaining members of the state delegation representing Devens were unable to make the meeting. They are state Sen. Jamie Eldridge, who represents the Harvard and Ayer portions of Devens, and state Rep. Dan Sena, who represents all of the Devens area.
Cronin praised MassDevelopment for its build-out of Devens, saying the area was vital to the economy of North Central Massachusetts. “MassDevelopment has done remarkable work here,” he said. “It is the single most important contributor to this region’s economy … and it’s got the highest upside potential to create jobs for the next generation.”
Speaking of MassDevelopment’s refusal to engage with the Devens Jurisdiction Framework Committee, he acknowledged that some were frustrated with the agency for not deciding what he views as political questions. “My view is, that’s not MassDevelopment’s job,” Cronin said. Chapter 498, the statute that enables Devens, says MassDevelopment needs to conduct a study by 2030 and disposition needs to be decided in 2033, not before, he observed.
“I don’t know what the world is going to look like in 2033. I don’t know who’s going to be governor. I don’t know who’s going to be state senator. I don’t know what we’re going to want Devens to become in 2030. But I certainly do not begrudge MassDevelopment for doing what the law instructs them to do.”
However, he continued, “2033 is way too late to start talking thoughtfully and deliberately and responsibly about the opportunity to produce more housing here at Devens. We are just about at the housing cap right now. So I do think we need to dissociate to some degree, questions about disposition from questions about how we responsibly, thoughtfully produce more housing here at Devens.”
A broader look at Vicksburg Square
With regard to the efforts of the Devens framework committee to rezone the historic Army barracks and land at Vicksburg Square for housing, he said that Vicksburg Square might be the most prohibitively expensive place to build among the 92 acres that are zoned for residential use. “That’s the reality,” he said. “I believe we need to take a broader look at where we can build housing [at Devens], what’s feasible, what’s realistic. And 2030 or 2033, to me, is too late to do that.”
Some attendees stated their frustration at the inability of MassDevelopment and developer NOW Communities to complete the already-permitted Emerson Green development. Outgoing Devens Committee member Chetan Mistry noted that the planned 46-unit apartment complex there had remained a fenced-in hole-in-the-ground for the past two winters. The lack of progress on that project is preventing the developer from beginning Phase 3 of Emerson Green, which will provide more homes to the area. Mistry asked where the urgency is with regard to the already-permitted housing.
Cronin did not answer the question directly but agreed more urgency was required; and he advocated, as he has in the past, for a lifting of the 282-unit cap on housing mandated by the Devens reuse plan. “I’m very public about this,” said Cronin. “It’s one of my objectives for this session that we’re going to conclude in July of 2024 to make some headway on the housing cap.”
Cronin noted that the Legislature had raised the commercial cap at Devens in 2022. “I’ve lived here my whole life in North Central Massachusetts, [and] I did not know there was a commercial or a residential cap before I took this job here at Devens.” He continued: “Nobody has made a compelling argument to me about how not building housing here or anywhere else helps build out a middle class in North Central Massachusetts and provide more opportunities for families.”
Adding to the urgency, he said, the governor had recently filed a $4 billion Affordable Homes bond bill, which the Legislature will take up in early 2024. “Those are going to be competitive dollars for every type of housing: for market rate housing, for rentals; for homeownership; for affordable workforce and for senior housing development. And there are financial storm clouds on the horizon,” with state revenues tracking below forecast, Cronin said. If the Massachusetts economy goes in the wrong direction, it will be very difficult to get state subsidies for housing, and the bond bill is an opportunity he wants Devens to be able to take advantage of.
“Do you have an upper number for housing at Devens?” asked Walnut Street resident Heather Knowles, a resident ex-officio member of the Harvard School Committee and voting member of the Harvard jurisdiction committee. “Would Cronin say,” Knowles asked, “ ‘I wouldn’t put 2,000 houses on Devens because it would completely change it and they’d lose [access to the Harvard] schools’?” She added, “Are our kids even a consideration?”
“I think that is the most important question to a thoughtful, responsible dialogue,” Cronin responded. “But no, I don’t have that answer.”
